(VOVWORLD) - A British truck driver who discovered dozens of dead Vietnamese migrants in a container waited 23 minutes before alerting police, a court was told on Tuesday.
 Police investigate the truck in which 39 bodies, later identified as Vietnamese, were discovered in the UK on October 23, 2019. (Photo: AFP) |
Maurice Robinson, 26, who has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the 39 migrants and to conspiring to smuggle people, made the grim discovery in the early hours of October 23 last year.
He had picked up the sealed container from the English port of Purfleet after it had arrived on a cargo ship from Zeebrugge, Belgium, and opened its doors shortly afterwards in nearby Thurrock. Inside he found the bodies of the migrants. Instead of immediately calling the police, Robinson made several phone calls to others accused of involvement in the people-trafficking scheme, a prosecutor told London’s court.
The trial, which began earlier this month, is expected to last up to six weeks.